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Heir to the glorious “Pensione” of the same name, on the fourth floor of the
aristocratic Minerbetti and Strozzi del Poeta edifices, it has lost none of its
beguiling atmosphere, with its 1930s-style breakfast room and bar, its halls with
precious eighteenth-century furnishings and tapestries, and its frescoed suites
and rooms with antique furniture and superb paintings. On the most elegant street
in Florence, the visitors’ book shows it has always attracted English-speaking
and Italian aristocrats staying in the city. John Steinbeck, the actor Fredric
March, the Agnellis, Maestro Spivakov, Lord Spencer, and Barbara Bush all came
here. Run by the second generation of the same family.
Hotel Tornabuoni Beacci is located in the heart of Florence – on Via Tornabuoni home to the world’s most famous fashion boutiques, and just
a short walk from the Ponte Vecchio, the Cathedral and Piazza della Signoria.
For generations the hotel has been receiving guests on the top floors of two adjoining
fifteenth century Renaissance buildings, Palazzo Minerbetti and Palazzo Giaconi-Strozzi
del Poeta.
Indeed, the latter building has a long tradition of hospitality. In the fifteenth
century it was known as theforesteria di Palazzo Strozzi because the prominent Strozzi family used it as their “guest house”. In the early
nineteenth century it became the “Locanda del Pellicano” and then from the end
of the century, up to 1918 it was the “Grand Hotel d’Europa”.
Then, for years it was the Pensione Beacci until 1978 when it was taken over
by the current owners, the Bechi family who changed the name to “Hotel Tornabuoni
Beacci”. The hotel is entirely furnished with fine – and valuable – antique pieces,
paintings and tapestries, with the charm of an old and stately Florentine home
and all modern amenities.
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